SHONEN ALLIANCE

RE:BIRTH

OPENING THEME: RANBU NO MELODY (Bleach)

For a moment, with the dragon defeated, a moment of peaceful but confused calm settled over the battlefield as Amestrian and Obelisk forces slowly emerged from their cover to figure out what had happened.

Uncertainty hung thick over the warring forces as both sides waited to see what would happen next.

Edward, Alphonse, Vine, and Armstrong were in much the same circumstance as they stood beside the spike that had successfully slain the dragon, their attention focused on the top of a nearby hill.

Atop that hill, Yuri stood, watching the general confusion below him, his sadistic smirk growing wider with every moment that passed.

Then, an Ancient Gear Golem appeared, and all at once, the battle resumed as though nothing had happened before.

"Damn it, here we go again," Vine cursed.

"You've gotta be kidding! Their commander didn't even try to keep his dragon from killing them too, why would they still be fighting for him!?" Alphonse cried

"Fear can be a powerful motivator," Vine cursed as he glared at Yuri, "that dragon was a pretty convincing demonstration of just how terrible this guy is. If we want this to end, then we'll have to subdue their leader."

"Then we should hurry," Ed suggested, "not only are more people dying the longer this goes on, but if he summons that dragon again…"

"Agreed," Vine admitted, "Major, rejoin the fight, Elrics, we're taking down their boss."

"Understood sir," Major Armstrong replied departing to rejoin the Amestrians as they reengaged the Duel Academy forces.

"I realize this is redundant when I'm dealing with you two," Vine admitted, "but we want him alive. We want him for questioning."

"You're right, that was redundant," Edward admitted, "Better off telling us what the plan it."

"You tell me. Then we'll both know."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Yuri watched eagerly as the three Amestrian heroes made their way to him. They'd slain his dragon while their allies had cowered, displaying a level of bravery and resourcefulness that far surpassed the remainder of Amestris's forces.

Once they were dead, the rest of their forces wouldn't be far behind.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

As the battle began to heat up, three alchemists and one duelist faced off on the edge of the battlefield. The result of the battle to come would determine Amestris's fate.

"Well, I have to admit, I'm impressed," Yuri admitted as Edward, Alphonse, and Vine stood before him. "I'll give you credit for guts at least. Shame you don't have the brains to back it up, standing up to me like this."

"Well, that's appreciated," Vine replied, "I'll return the favor. I'll give you credit for being a cocky little shit at least. Shame arrogance is more likely to get you hurt than anything else."

Yuri's cocky smirk was replaced by an irritated scowl as he glared at the three alchemists.

"I think I've more than earned a bit of confidence. After all, do you have any idea how many worlds I've destroyed and conquered before yours. I'm no stranger to so called 'heroes' who think they can protect their worlds from me, and you won't be any different."

He seemed to contemplate for a moment, before his annoyance was replaced with a wide and wicked grin.

"In fact, why don't I give you an idea of exactly what fate you have to look forward to."

"I hope you don't think we're going to give you the chance to do whatever you're planning," Vine threatened, rushing at Yuri.

"Heh, I hope you don't think you can stop me," Yuri replied.

Vine's charge was foiled when one of Duel Academy's strange portals opened in front of him. Deciding to take a cautious approach, Vine backed off to stand between Edward and Alphonse.

"More of your goons, huh? I hope you don't think they're going to stop us."

"Oh, I think you're going to like this particular batch of my 'goons'," Yuri mocked as a figure began to emerge from the portal.

It was immediately obvious that something was different about this one. He still wore the Obelisk Force jacket, but his mask only covered his eyes and nose as opposed to the entire top of his head. This allowed the alchemists to see his spiked, dark reddish hair and the red scar on the left side of his forehead. He didn't have a duel disc, instead having a katana strapped to his side. A pair of Hanafuda earrings dangled from his ears.

The young man clearly wasn't a duelist, but that wasn't the only thing that was different about him. There was an aura about him that made the three alchemists uneasy from the moment he appeared. He was silent and distant, not seeming to truly comprehend anything going on around him.

"What… what's your game here?" Vine inquired, uneasily facing off with the new foe.

"This was one of the previous 'heroes' who thought they could stand up to me, a 'hero' of XYZ dimension to be precise. Tanjiro, why don't you show these wannabe heroes just how well that went for you."

In response, wordlessly and almost mechanically, the young man, Tanjiro grabbed the center of his jacket and opened it so they could see his chest. The sight of where his heart should have been made Edward and Vine recoil in horror and disgust.

It was where the heart should have been. Instead, there was only a hole, the size of a fist, that pierced from the man's chest and through to his back. There was no way he could have survived such an injury.

As the alchemists recomposed themselves, they realized that more figures were already emerging from the portal. First was another young man, this one shirtless and wearing a boar head, showing off his well-toned muscles. He might have made an odd sight, if not for the fact that all focus was drawn to the horrific scar in his abdomen, indicating where he had been disemboweled.

The third was a young woman with long, blonde hair dressed in the obelisk attire. At first, nothing was obviously wrong with her, but a closer look revealed that her head had been cleanly severed, then sloppily reattached with several sutures around the circumference of her throat.

Both Vine and Ed had to struggle not to retch at the sight of Yuri's nightmarish trump card. Alphonse was lucky that such a reaction was no longer an option for him.

"Well, what do you think?" Yuri asked mockingly, "these're just a few of the so called 'heroes' who tried to stop us in XYZ and Fusion Dimension. Do you really think your fate is going to be any different?"

The alchemists had no chance to respond to the sadistic Obelisk leader's barbs.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Vine parried a strike from the boar headed man, whose katana struck his own blade with enough force to make his arm vibrate from the impact. Even as a corpse, this man's strength dwarfed Vine's own, but his attacks were direct and forceful. Caution allowed Vine to out maneuver the foe and keep a step ahead of his twin swords.

Edward's opponent was essentially the opposite, not physically as strong as the boar headed man, but wielding his katana with enough mastery to keep the eldest Elric brother on the back foot.

Alphonse couldn't launch a counter-attack, instead holding up his arms to shield his body from a rain of fearsome blows from the beheaded blonde.

All three had been forced onto the defensive.

"This is messed up," Edward cursed as he blocked a strike from the swordsman Yuri had called Tanjiro, gagging a bit as his eyes rested on the young man's fatal wound, "This is no way to live."

"We've gotta put them down," Vine declared firmly, dropping back to stand alongside Ed's side as the two Alchemists faced the two undead swordsmen, "whoever they are, they'd want nothing less from us."

"But…" Ed began to protest.

"No buts on this one Fullmetal," Vine ordered, "think about if you were in their position. Wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you?"

Ed felt his stomach churn again as he looked at the two opponents. Vine was right, he knew that, but it didn't make what had to be done any easier to stomach. At one time, these people had fought to protect their own homes from Duel Academy, and this had been what Duel Academy had done to them. There seemed to be an endlessly growing list of atrocities that Duel Academy had to be held accountable for, but as things stood, the only thing the Alchemists could do would be to return those Duel Academy had defiled to their rest.

"How though," Edward asked, looking disgustedly at the wounds in the chest and abdomen of the swordsmen, "those wounds should have already been fatal. What can put them down of if injuries like those aren't hampering them in the slightest?"

"Not all of their wounds seem to be meaningless," Vine suggested, indicating the blonde who was still sparing with Alphonse. Her movements were sluggish and sloppy, giving Alphonse a distinct edge against her, "if her head was severed clean off, then her nervous system must be sloppily reattached. Her muscles and limbs might not be receiving commands from her brain in as efficient a manner as they normally would."

"Bit of a gamble, isn't it?"

"If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears," Vine replied, "besides, the logic adds up. The brain has to direct the body to get it to move. Sever that connection, and even if the brain still doesn't die, it can't send the body any more commands."

"Guess we've got nothing to lose by trying," Edward cursed, still feeling disgusted by the entire chain of events that had unfolded.

Vine held out his hand behind him as a surge of alchemical energy passed between him and the ground. A carefully forged, one sided sword seemed to grow from the ground, eventually growing into the alchemists hand who grabbed it and ripped it from the earth, wielding both it and his original sword in a battle ready position.

"Cut off their heads or destroy their brains. It's our best option at the moment," he ordered as Edward and he both made their move.

Vine struck out for the boar headed man, who countered, causing each of them to lock one of their blades against the other's. The boar began shoving all of his force against Vine, trying to push him backwards, but the Raging Blast Alchemist had already predicted exactly how that particular match-up would go, instead stepping backwards and allowing the boar to stumble forward.

The boar responded by swinging his second blade, carving a deep gash into Vine's left cheek as the Alchemist narrowly evaded the worst of the attack. The gash was certainly painful, but a step slower and the sword would have split his head like a watermelon.

Vine spat distastefully as he faced the foe again.

"The boar head definitely fits that boarish fighting style. I can read him pretty easily, but that strength of his is more than overwhelming enough to make up the difference. In a fair fight, I'd probably be in way over my head," he admitted as the boar charged again, prompting him to drop to his knees, "so I guess it's a good thing for me this isn't a fair fight."

Alchemical energy surged through the ground between Vine and the boar, forming five spikes of earth to burst forth from the ground, counter-charging the angry boar.

There was no chance to evade as, with a sickening crunch, all five spikes embedded themselves into the boar's body and tore through to his back. The boar war left completely pinned by the spikes that bit into him, preventing him from charging any closer to Vine.

"Sorry about this," Vine sighed, rising to his feet and pointing two of his fingers at the center of where he calculated the forehead of the young man wearing the boar head would be.

"Thank… you…" he thought he heard a weak voice gasp in the seconds before a red beam of light, powerful enough to pierce through the armor of a tank, shot from his fingertips and pierced the young man's skull.

The result was instant. Not only did the man's two katanas instantly as his body fell limp, but, as though nothing were still holding him together, the body immediately wasted away, leaving only a pile of dust that surrounded the boar head and the two katanas.

Having finally reached his limit, Vine dropped to his knees and vomited.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Edward's opponent lacked the raw physical power of Vine's opponent, but made up for that with far greater technique. The Fullmetal Alchemist had been put onto the back foot trying to defend himself against the swordsman's skillful strikes.

His opponent was clearly well studied in his swordsmanship techniques, but Edward was no amateur either. Swinging with his automail blade, he parried an overhead strike from his opponent, causing the young man to stagger.

Edward was able to distance himself from the swordsman, who was momentarily thrown off balance. Jumping back, Ed clapped his hands and slammed them against the ground, transmuting a hand of stone that grabbed and immobilized his opponent.

"Finish… it…" a weak, lifeless voice gasped out desperately, causing Ed's breath to catch in his throat. He knew what he would want to do if he were the one in this position, but that didn't make what had to be done any easier for him.

He struggled with the idea of striking down this young man, and for a critical moment, hesitated. The lifeless swordsman drew in a deep, focused breath, then sliced through the stone hand, freeing himself.

He let out an indescribably horrific scream as he charged towards the Fullmetal Alchemist, raising his sword to strike. Edward was thrown off by the suddenness of the attack and only narrowly managed to get his automail blade in front of him to deflect the blade to the side.

The swordsman prepared to strike again before Ed was able to recover from the first blow. The elder Elric brother braced for the blow, but was spared when a beam of red light cut through the swordsman's head.

"Th…thank… you…" the young man stuttered as he dropped to his knees then crumbled to dust, leaving his clothing and katana surrounded by a small pile of dust.

Edward wretched as Vine approached him. He had sheathed the two swords of the boar headed man and now had both sheathes tied to his back so that one hilt stuck out above each shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I just… I couldn't do it…" Ed cursed as Vine helped him back to his feet and he turned to face the pile of dust that had, moments before, been his opponent.

"You don't need to apologize to me," Vine replied, "I'm well aware of how you two feel about killing. You did what you needed too, and that's good enough.

"Vine, was there really nothing we could have done to save them?" Ed cursed. Vine knew Edward knew the answer that that question every bit as well as he did, but he also knew his young comrade needed to hear it in no uncertain terms. Shaking his head, he placed a gentle hand on his young friend's shoulder.

"There was no way anyone could have survived the wounds they'd received. They were already dead. The only thing we could do for them… the best thing we could have possibly done for them… was to release them from that nightmarish existence."

"These Duel Academy bastards are sick," Ed cursed as he steadied himself.

"Please, stop!" they heard Alphonse's desperate cry. He'd been pitted against the blonde fighter who was attacking him with a series of powerful strikes with her fists. She was skilled, but Alphonse was having very little trouble defending against her. Still, it was clear that Edward's tender hearted younger brother was no more willing to end his battle then Edward had been.

Feeling his stomach begin to retch yet again at the thought of the horrific encounter they'd endured, Vine rose his hand and pointed it at the woman, waiting for the perfect shot.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Alphonse was on his knees, staring down in dumbstruck disbelief at the pile of dust that had been his opponent. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He wanted to retch and vomit, but he couldn't do that either. All he could do was stare and tremble as Yuri's laughter echoed like the disturbing cry of a horrifying monster.

Vine could only name a few times in his life when a hatred like the one he felt now towards the Obelisk Force leader had ever burned in his heart. He wanted to rush forward and slice the boy's head clean off of his shoulders, or send a blast clean through the man's heart, but he needed to be taken alive.

He'd answer for his crimes when the time was right, but for right now, Yuri would be taken down alive.

"Well," Yuri laughed, "guess you were more then a match for those three. The two swordsmen were some of the resistance XYZ dimension gave up, while the woman was one of Fusion Dimension's warriors. Each one of them thought they could protect their worlds from us too, and look where that got them? By all means, enjoy this little victory of yours. It didn't really mean much."

"You heartless little bastard," Vine spat as he tightened his grip on his sword. This battle is done. Surrender or die."

"Oh I agree, this battle is indeed done," Yuri gloated, "but before you all die, let me make it clear to you just how out of your depths you really were."

Right on cue, another blue portal appeared in front of Yuri.

You've got to be kidding me," Vine cursed as seven silhouettes appeared and began to emerge from the portals.

"We crushed Fusion Dimension's greatest heroes like they were nothing," Yuri declared, "You're dimensions fighters don't stand a chance."

"We'll see," Edward promised as the three fighters prepared for the next battle.

CLOSING THEME: SHUNKAN SENTIMENTAL (Fullmetal Alchemist)